Review Different wick face-off!

[Vaping Biker]

I wanted to get a better idea of the wicking properties of a bunch of popular (and in some cases expensive) cotton/wick material. After getting a bunch together and a spare 7 hours to get it done and published, here it is.

Tested were...


Regular Muji - still with the side pieces attached
Muji without the side pieces
Muji in a 'scottish roll'
Kendo Vape Cotton
Chaddo's Cotton
Shake & Vape
Cotton Bacon V2.0
Fibre Freaks
VCC - Vapers Choice Cotton

It's a long one, but I've had a good old go at being thorough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TGFOAQtI0o

 

[gizzmo]

That's pretty cool

 

[kannon]

Interesting! Shame you didn't test the CB 2.0 at the ended. I wanted to see your thoughts on how that tested under heat.

 

[r4nd0m]

hm interesting video Deano but I wonder how explanatory it is - I did a little research myself on this and I believe there are way more factors involved like immersion, transplanar wicking, longitudinal wicking as well as catapillary penetration only, simultaneous capillary penetration and imbibition by the fibers (diffusion of the liquid into the interior of the fibers), capillary penetration and adsorption of a surfactant on fibers, and simultaneous capillary penetration, imbibition by the fibers, and adsorption of a surfactant on fibers AND AND AND I hope you can see where I am going with this ... the results that you saw with the VCC - or supima cotton is actually self-explanatory and expected - as the fibers of supima cotton are about 30% longer than other cottons the caterpillar behaviour is meant to be different to eg. japanese cotton - only Egyptian cotton (ELS) has the same structure and would behave the same ...

in addition to that I would think you shouldn't underestimate the power that vaporising actually introduces as it will create a pull - again, depending on coil, resistance and wattage/temperature etc - your test did show how the raw material handles the liquid but from my perspective this doesn't really apply apart from the initial wicking phase - then other factors surely do come into play - if you remember back a few years we also used metal mesh and I believe we all understand that metal mesh itself doesn't support any capillary penetration nor does it absorb liquids and it did still work fine ...

what I am trying to say here is that even the worst example in your test under the conditions of vaping could still perform better than the best example you have tested - I mean there are fibres out there that act more less resistant unless under a certain condition - eg rubbing or applying pressure to them before they actually absorb liquid ...

however, nicely done test

 

[Tubbyengineer]

hm interesting video Deano but I wonder how explanatory it is - I did a little research myself on this and I believe there are way more factors involved like immersion, transplanar wicking, longitudinal wicking as well as catapillary penetration only, simultaneous capillary penetration and imbibition by the fibers (diffusion of the liquid into the interior of the fibers), capillary penetration and adsorption of a surfactant on fibers, and simultaneous capillary penetration, imbibition by the fibers, and adsorption of a surfactant on fibers AND AND AND I hope you can see where I am going with this ... the results that you saw with the VCC - or supima cotton is actually self-explanatory and expected - as the fibers of supima cotton are about 30% longer than other cottons the caterpillar behaviour is meant to be different to eg. japanese cotton - only Egyptian cotton (ELS) has the same structure and would behave the same ...

in addition to that I would think you shouldn't underestimate the power that vaporising actually introduces as it will create a pull - again, depending on coil, resistance and wattage/temperature etc - your test did show how the raw material handles the liquid but from my perspective this doesn't really apply apart from the initial wicking phase - then other factors surely do come into play - if you remember back a few years we also used metal mesh and I believe we all understand that metal mesh itself doesn't support any capillary penetration nor does it absorb liquids and it did still work fine ...

what I am trying to say here is that even the worst example in your test under the conditions of vaping could still perform better than the best example you have tested - I mean there are fibres out there that act more less resistant unless under a certain condition - eg rubbing or applying pressure to them before they actually absorb liquid ...

however, nicely done test

In a vaping context you can safely ignore the more complex forms of wicking, whilst Transplanar, Logitudinal, Capillary and Imbibition all have important roles to play in more advanced applications such as severe weather clothing and medical dressing applications the use of wicks in E-cigs is far more crude. In fact the only real forms that require consideration are Capillary and Imbibition. Imbibition is a secondary characteristic as far as wicking in E-cigarettes is concerned, since it requires the fibres to absorb liquid and release it again - this process is too slow for consideration at the temperatures encountered in E-cigarette coils. This leaves simple capillary penetration - Capillary penetration (or action as it's commonly called) is a physical phenoma caused by intermolecular forces and does not require a substance to be able to absorb liquid, in fact it's most common demonstration is using glass capillary tubes. The combination of surface tension (which is caused by cohesion within the liquid) and adhesive forces between the liquid and wick act to lift the liquid. This is why Stainless steel mesh wicks work and also why cotton works as a wick. Whilst the more complex forms of wicking act on larger timescales capillary action is extremely rapid and usually works best when fine but contiguous passages are available between individual fibres, therefore in an e-cigarette it is more likely that the actual surface characteristics of fibres, orientation and their proximity are the deciding factors in how well a wick works, there is also the consideration of the volume of liquid held between the fibres versus the contact surface area of the coil to the wick.

Put simply long, fine, straight fibres will wick more easily than short tangled fibres, and wicks with gentle curves will wick better than wicks bent at sharp angles...